AMHERST - The ribbon's been cut and it's now official. The Registry of Motor Vehicles and the Land Registration Office are working together in brand new offices at 144 Robert Angus Drive.

"The two offices have joined together and it has all worked out marvelously. We're becoming a team," said Nellie Anderson, registrar of deeds and land titles at the new office.

The Registry of Motor Vehicles was previously located in the Superstore Mall and the Land Office was on Havelock Street.

They made the move to the new facility in late November but had their official opening yesterday.

John MacDonell, Nova Scotia minister of Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations, was on hand for the grand opening and said the new facilities are being built across the province to create more efficient services.

"We want to provide good service and do it at as reasonable a price as we can," said MacDonell. "We've been closing offices that are at distances apart and combining them so people can do all their business in one place."

MacDonell said the former footprint between the two offices stood at 4,800 square feet, but that's been reduced to 4,500 square feet in the new facility.

"Our rents are generally on square footage and it was thought we could consolidate offices and reduce our footage and rent the space cheaper and have a new facility for both staffs," said MacDonell. "And it's a more efficient building because the people who we rent from, they build it at our specs, so we get what we want."

MacDonell then cut the cake for the official opening and it was served to staff and customers.